Iridium

Iridium is technically the densest element, though the dragon Iridium is actually quite brilliant. It is also the most corrosion-resistant metal. Fine iridium dust can be flammable. Iridium was named after the Greek goddess Iris for its tendency to form highly colored salts.

Iridium is a very old snapper. She spent her early years traveling with the nomadic clans of Dragonhome, including her home clan. From them she learned much about every topic under the sun. Iridium currently spends her time as something of a sentinel for Foxhole. She stands guard near one of the larger entrances to the cavern, sleepless, and often mistaken for a statue.

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Iridium is a Dwarven Monk that comes from a clan of nomadic Dwarves. She is disciplined, but always has a story to share. Iridium left her home clan in search of knowledge, and now adventures through human cities, visiting every library she passes.

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Iridium was getting tired of this. Actually, in a more proper sense, she was getting too old for this. As a snapper, she had lived a lot longer than most of the members of her clan, and had seen more than they could ever wish to see. It had lead to a lot of questions about this and that, which she was of course happy to answer, but over time it got old and tiring to answer the same question over and over. It might be phrased differently, but essentially it was the same. And it got tiring. It was always terrible when a child of the Arcanist wanted answers to their endless questions.
And that’s exactly what was happening today! A little fae, with wings like fire and a body like the night, had decided that today, of all days, was the perfect day to bother Iridium. With endless questions.
“Why did you choose to live in this clan?” She had perched on Iridium’s nose, causing the snap to look at her cross-eyed just to see her.
“Because I felt this was my home, Hydrogen. Please, don’t you have other things to do?” More like other dragons to bother, but she was polite.
“Mmm, no. It’s my day to ask you questions. We have a schedule”. She held a piece of parchment in front of Iridium’s left eye. Oh. No wonder why she never got a break. They literally had a list for who was going to bother her that day. That was…..not something she wanted to know about to be honest. She heaved a deep sigh. Great. Every day she would have to deal with these annoying questions about life, death and everything in between. This got her a bit angry. It was rare that the easy going Iridium got angry, but here we were. She flung her head up, sending Hydrogen floating to the high heavens. Literally floating. The little Fae was lighter than air and just gently floated up and up, head over tails.
“Iridium….why did you do that? It’s going to take me forever to get back down!” Hydrogen wailed. She tried fluttering her wings but to no avail. She was just floating gently in the air. Iridium smirked.
“That’ll teach you to have a list for who gets to bug me every day. Let all the others know I will not be answering any more of these innate questions! They drive me crazy!” She stomped with her back left foot and turned to hustle away.
But she came back and managed to pull Hydrogen down. It was a hard task, since snappers aren’t made for flight, and Hydrogen was pretty high up there.
Thank the Earthshaker he gave snappers those beautiful muscular legs. She was able to leap up high and gently, very very gently, grab Helium’s tail and pull her down to Earth. It was a pretty funny sight to see, a snapper hanging off a fae, pulling the smaller dragon down to the ground.
Once landed, Iridium spat out Hydrogen and turned her back on her.
“That was your warning. The next time I won’t get you down. And tell the others on your list to stop asking me so many questions. I need a break for Eathshakers sake! I enjoy spreading knowledge, that’s a benefit that comes with age and my impressive memory but I need a break!” She huffed and started pattering away. Hydrogen floated up and landed daintily on her back.
“Aw….but Iridium, how else can we gain the knowledge you have? Suck it out of your brain?” Like a lamprey Hydrogen flopped onto Iridium’s head and sucked. The snapper shook her head and again sent the tiny almost weightless fae flying. She didn’t go too far this time and latched onto a nearby tree.
“What was that for?! I was just trying to get your head information!” Hydrogen shoved herself off the tree and after Iridium. The snapper took off at a majestic gallop.
“LEAVE ME ALONE!” She hollered as Hydrogen chased her into the sunset.
Moral of the story? Share your knowledge children :)

Story by Ashnick

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Art by PlantQueen

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Prob no b/c colors, but idk